Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Of course we will publish recommendations as soon as we have them. The Deputy is making sweeping generalisations. The United States decided to stop using Lariam for troops sent to Afghanistan. We have troops in Afghanistan and we never gave them Lariam because it is not the appropriate drug for troops being sent to Afghanistan. It depends on the region, where personnel are going and for how long, and the strain of malaria. All this is part of the medical assessment. The reason most countries involved with peacekeeping continue to use Lariam is because there is no simple transfer to another drug. The suggestion that there are no complications or problems with the other available drugs for malaria is also not the way it is. If it were the case, we would transfer to another drug. Nobody is suggesting there are no problems with Lariam but we are trying to minimise those problems through effective screening, with Lariam only being used where it is the recommended drug to minimise the likelihood of having a problem with malaria. We do not always prescribe Lariam and it is only used for certain regions, where it is the best prescribed option to protect our troops. If the recommendation is to cease its use, we will do it straight away.

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